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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26765827">Haptic Communication</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhosyn_du/pseuds/rhosyn_du'>rhosyn_du</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Flufftober 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Shadowhunters (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alec Lightwood-centric, Fluff, Flufftober, M/M, Touch</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 03:08:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>365</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26765827</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhosyn_du/pseuds/rhosyn_du</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Alec has always felt clumsy with words, but it’s only now, with Magnus, that he feels clumsy with touch.</i>
</p><p> </p><p>Flufftober Day 1: Touch</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Flufftober 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950829</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>66</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Fluff vs. Angst Battle 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Haptic Communication</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It’s always been easy for Alec to touch—and to be touched—by the people he’s close to, almost instinctive. His parents, as guarded as they are about offering approval, have never been miserly with physical affection. Izzy has no more sense of his personal space than she does of his personal life in general, and Max has definitely followed in her footsteps in that regard. Even Jace, so wary of </span>
  <em>
    <span>any</span>
  </em>
  <span> affection when he first arrived at the Institute, didn’t take long before he started trusting, and even reciprocating, the stream of casual touches that were just a part of how family was to Alec and Izzy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So it feels natural for Alec to touch his family—familiar—and he finds himself using touch to convey the things he can’t put into clumsy words.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s different with Magnus. Not that Alec finds it hard to touch Magnus, not at all. If anything, it’s the opposite. Now that he </span>
  <em>
    <span>can</span>
  </em>
  <span> touch Magnus, Alec never wants to stop, especially when every touch, no matter how small, sets his nerves on fire and makes his heart race. He sometimes thinks that the world could burn down around him when he’s kissing Magnus and he wouldn’t notice, or care.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It's just, Magnus is so </span>
  <em>
    <span>careful </span>
  </em>
  <span>with his touches, reserved in a way he isn’t with anything else, that Alec can’t help but be careful, too. Every touch of Magnus’s skin, every brush of his lips, every graze of his fingertips, feels like a gift, laden with meaning that Alec is slowly learning to pick apart.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alec has always felt clumsy with words, but it’s only now, with Magnus, that he feels clumsy with touch. He strives to say everything he doesn’t have the words for—everything Magnus deserves to hear—with his hands and mouth and tongue, but he lacks the nuance and dexterity he needs to say everything he means.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Alec is determined to learn, because Magnus deserves to feel as important and precious and </span>
  <em>
    <span>wanted</span>
  </em>
  <span> as he makes Alec feel. And just like any other skill, this one is going to take hard work to develop.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Thankfully, Magnus doesn’t seem to mind helping him practice.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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